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DECCAN HERALD
Sunday, September 9, 2001
PRIVATE VIEW by Abu Abraham
I have a fear that if we take caste to the UN, either
officially or unofficially, we might spread the disease
internationally. Little chance of curing ourselves of it!
Apartheid was an evil that the whole world regarded as one. It
rested on the belief that the white races are inherently superior
to the black races. It was institutionalised by General Smuts,
who was Prime Minister of South Africa in the 1930’s. He
also happened to be the leader of the Boy Scouts Movement. Dr
Verwoerd who ruled in the 50’s-60’s described apartheid
as ‘separate development’ and also as ‘good
neighbourliness’. But apartheid lasted less than a hundred
years. Politics overcame it. There was also international
condemnation.
In India, caste has a history of at least three thousand
years. And we insist that it is a division of labour, organised
by our wise ancestors and, what is more, has the blessings of the
Lord. How can we reject a system, which is declared
indestructible by the Imperishable himself? ‘The four castes
emanated from me, by the distribution of qualities and action,’
says the Gita.
Unlike apartheid, the caste system has the quality of being
invisible. Its oppression and injustice has gone largely
unnoticed by the rest of the world. Now for the first time it
will find itself under the spotlight at an international forum.
It is the mixing of caste and the Hindu religion that gives it
its strength and durability. Who is going to unscramble the two?
What a stupendous task for the world community!
Both Gandhiji and Vinoba Bhave tried to reform Hinduism and
remove its social injustices. But their emphasis was on
untouchability, not caste as such. Nehru saw caste in a more
forthright way. He saw it as a barrier to change, as the cause of
our stagnation as a society. Ambedkar saw Buddhism as an escape
from Hindu oppression. But although it provided dignity and
emancipation for the downtrodden, it did not help the masses in
the long run. Most Dalits, it was found, did not want to change
their identity for fear of losing the benefits of job
reservation. Only in Maharashtra is there reservation for
Buddhist Dalits.
‘Sanskritisation’ was another remedy tried out to
emancipate the Dalits. By following the social habits and customs
of the upper castes they expected to be welcomed into the higher
classes of society. In contrast to the idea of Sanskritisation,
Gora, the Brahmin-born atheist, whose Atheist Centre in Vijaywada
has done remarkable social work in the rural areas of AP,
believed that atheism was the solution to caste and all the
social and political discrimination that goes with it. He
preached atheism as the path to modernisation and economic power.
Gora wanted Dalits to contest polls in large numbers. He said,
“Wide political participation of untouchables should not be
a difficult proposition. In 1920, Indians had the same diffidence
and sense of frustration as the untouchables have today.
Imperialists did not treat Indians better than untouchables are
treated now. But the rise of the political movement and people’s
large-scale participation in it converted cowards into bold
satyagrahis. Similar change is possible now for Dalits through
wide political participation. Neither slander nor sabotage of
reactionaries can prevent the rise of a popular movement.’
There is general agreement that land distribution is one of
the keys to the Dalit problem, but mostly the upper castes
appropriate land from Dalits through devious ways or by violence.
The police too tend to side with the Brahmins and Baniasa as in
rural areas they are in the majority.
Things are improving, no doubt, but very, very slowly. As the
Dalits become more and more politically conscious and able to
exercise their power, great changes can be expected. But then,
violence will also increase.
As of today, the caste system remains the most complex, the
most evil system of oppression devised by mankind. It is far
worse than racism and it involves millions more people.
If the UN or any other agency cannot break its hold on Indian
society, they would have at least been made aware of it.
Satyagraha had its birth in Durban. In Durban it may be born
again.
Posted on 2001-10-03
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